HP ZBook Firefly 14 G11

Compact mobile workstations not only have chips under the hood but chips on their shoulders—they fight to prove that a light 14-inch laptop can run the kind of demanding apps that call for independent software vendor (ISV) certifications. HP's ZBook Firefly 14 G11 (starts at $1,139; $2,189 as tested) is one example. It has the topnotch build quality we expect from HP workstations, as well as enterprise features that include Intel vPro IT manageability and standard on-site support, not to mention one of the company's glorious DreamColor screens. That said, one of the Firefly's key rivals, the Dell Precision 5490, is simply a faster machine, especially in graphics performance, and retains our Editors' Choice award among petite mobile workstations.

Design: Built for Business Class

The Firefly 14 is the most portable member of HP's ZBook workstation family, intended for professional content creation and design. Though barely over our qualifying line for an ultraportable at 3.13 pounds, the system still offers Intel Core H-series processors and entry-level workstation graphics. Our review configuration is about as powerful as this laptop gets, with a Core Ultra 7 165H processor, an Nvidia RTX A500 GPU, 32GB of memory, and a 512GB NVMe solid-state drive. It runs Windows 11 Pro, supports Intel's vPro Enterprise, and carries a three-year warranty.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

HP’s familiar silver-and-black palette and squared-off corners give this ZBook a classy, professional look; branding is limited to the stylized HP logo on the lid. The only indication that this isn't an EliteBook business laptop is the tiny ZBook print on the palm rest.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

The Firefly 14 G11's aluminum construction is strong and helps keep its weight down. (The Precision 5490, at 3.3 pounds, is slightly heavier.) Measuring 0.76 by 12.4 by 8.8 inches, the Firefly is not quite as compact as the Dell (0.75 by 12.2 by 8.3 inches), but the difference won't be noticeable in practical use.

The ZBook’s port selection satisfies for a 14-inch laptop, with two USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, an HDMI video output, and a 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack. The power adapter can be plugged into either USB-C port. Our unit also has HP's optional SmartCard reader. Intel Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth are standard, with near field communication (NFC) and mobile broadband optional for wireless addicts.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

The ZBook's bottom panel comes off for servicing, retained by some ordinary Philips screws. Getting the panel off is challenging, though—I used a plastic trim-removal tool and started near the rear hinges, working my way around toward the front. The changeable components include the M.2 Type-2280 solid-state drive and two SO-DIMM memory modules. The Precision 5490 doesn't let you upgrade the RAM, so that's a point in the Firefly's favor. The wireless card is not user-upgradable, though you can change out the main battery.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

On the environmental side, HP walks the walk with ocean-bound plastic, post-consumer recycled plastic, high-efficiency power supplies, and 100% recyclable packaging.

Using the HP ZBook Firefly 14 G11: Practical for Everyday Use

The ZBook Firefly 14 is well suited to everyday productivity and moderate content creation. The splendid picture of our model's 2,560-by-1,600-pixel DreamColor display brings even drab office documents to life and offers complete DCI-P3 gamut coverage for color-sensitive work. There's no shortage of brightness; in fact, I was satisfied with 70% brightness most of the time. It also has a 120Hz refresh rate for extra-smooth scrolling. The screen in our test model, unfortunately, doesn't support touch, but some of HP's other display options for this model do.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

The 1080p webcam over the display has a reasonably sharp picture and performed better than I expected in low light. It has infrared capability for Windows Hello facial-recognition logins and a sliding privacy shutter. There's also a fingerprint reader in the palm rest.

The island-style keyboard felt engaging under my fingertips; I achieved 121 words per minute with 100% accuracy in the MonkeyType online typing test. I like that all the cursor arrow keys are the same size, although they're half-size. Like many other new laptops we're seeing, the Firefly has a Copilot key near the space bar. The keys' white backlighting stands out against the black keycaps. The large touchpad below is accurate and has satisfying tactile clicks.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

The ZBook doesn't skimp on entertainment value. HP's in-house Poly Studio-tuned speakers sounded loud and clear when I played Rob Thomas's "Something to Be" and provided a wide soundstage when I watched the Captain America: Brave New World trailer.

Testing the HP ZBook Firefly 14 G11: Slightly Behind the Pack

As mentioned, our ZBook has an Intel Core Ultra 7 165H processor (16 cores, up to 5.0GHz turbo), an Nvidia RTX A500 GPU, 32GB of dual-channel RAM, and a 512GB SSD. This configuration is a big step up from the base model's Core Ultra 5 125U chip and Intel integrated graphics.

Workstations are usually purchased at corporate volume discounts and quantity-one pricing varies wildly among enterprise-bound models like this. The closest configuration I found on HP's website was a $2,189 prebuilt model with twice the storage (a 1TB SSD). The Dell Precision 5490 we tested cost nearly $4,000, though a setup closer to our ZBook's was $2,943 at presstime.

Our benchmark round will see the ZBook face its archrival, Dell's Precision 5490, along with a larger (but still trim) stablemate, the HP ZBook Studio 16 G10. We also included two prosumer notebooks, the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 and the MSI Stealth 14 Studio. These two lack workstation ISV certifications, Intel vPro, and enterprise-class support, but they can be used for similar tasks. Since all five laptops use Intel Core H-class CPUs, we'll expect similar performance in some tests.

The Firefly's single cooling fan seemed well-behaved as we ran these tests; it was audible but didn't exhibit annoying whine or motor noise. The laptop itself got warm, but not to the point where its surfaces were untouchable.

Productivity and Content Creation Tests

We run the same general productivity benchmarks across both mobile and desktop systems. Our first test is UL's PCMark 10, which simulates a variety of real-world productivity and office workflows to measure overall system performance and also includes a storage subtest for the primary drive.

Three other benchmarks focus on the CPU, using all available cores and threads, to rate a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. Maxon's Cinebench R23 uses that company's Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene, while Geekbench 5.4 Pro from Primate Labs simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning. We also use the open-source video transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to convert a 12-minute video clip from 4K to 1080p resolution (lower times are better).

Finally, we run PugetBench for Photoshop by workstation maker Puget Systems, which uses the Creative Cloud version 22 of Adobe's famous image editor to rate a PC's performance for content creation and multimedia applications. It's an automated extension that executes a variety of general and GPU-accelerated Photoshop tasks ranging from opening, rotating, resizing, and saving an image to applying masks, gradient fills, and filters. 

The ZBook Firefly finished last in PCMark's productivity exercise and its prospects didn't improve in the CPU benchmarks, where it fell well behind in Photoshop and Handbrake. At least its Cinebench and Geekbench scores were competitive, and the Dell wasn’t much faster in either test despite using a higher-clocked Core Ultra 9.

Graphics and Gaming Tests

We test the graphics inside all laptops and desktops with two DirectX 12 gaming simulations from UL's 3DMark, Night Raid (more modest, suitable for laptops with integrated graphics) and Time Spy (more demanding, suitable for gaming rigs with discrete GPUs).

To further measure GPUs, we also run two tests from the cross-platform GPU benchmark GFXBench 5, which stresses both low-level routines like texturing and high-level, game-like image rendering. The 1440p Aztec Ruins and 1080p Car Chase tests, rendered offscreen to accommodate different display resolutions, exercise graphics and compute shaders using the OpenGL programming interface and hardware tessellation respectively. The more frames per second (fps), the better.

We won’t spend long here since these aren't gaming laptops, but the ZBook Firefly’s scores were subpar in every test, especially next to the Dell.

Workstation-Specific Tests

We measure workstation graphics performance using SPECviewperf 2020, which renders, rotates, and zooms in and out of solid and wireframe models using viewsets from popular independent software vendor (ISV) applications. We run the 1080p resolution tests based on PTC's Creo CAD platform; Autodesk's Maya modeling and simulation software for film, TV, and games; and Dassault Systemes' SolidWorks 3D rendering package. Results are listed in frames per second (fps); higher numbers are better.

Our other workstation test is Blender, an open-source 3D content creation suite for modeling, animation, simulation, and compositing. We record the time it takes for Blender's built-in Cycles path tracer to render two photo-realistic scenes of BMW cars, one using the system's CPU and one the GPU. Lower times are better.

Nowhere near as fast as the Dell, the ZBook Firefly was solidly outperformed in both Blender tests and the two SPECviewperf tests it managed to complete. Its RTX A500 GPU is faster than integrated graphics silicon, but it's not usable for complex 3D modeling as Nvidia's Ada-series GPUs are.

Battery and Display Tests

We test laptops' and tablets' battery life by playing a locally stored 720p video file (the open-source Blender movie Tears of Steel) with display brightness at 50% and audio volume at 100%. We make sure the battery is fully charged before the test, with Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting turned off.

To gauge display performance, we also use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and its Windows software to measure a laptop screen's color saturation—what percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the display can show—and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per square meter).

Even though the ZBook Firefly fell about 50 minutes short of the Dell's unplugged runtime, it still showed admirable stamina for a 14-inch laptop packing above-average power. Its screen was about half as bright as the Precision's at the 50% setting we use for testing, so perhaps the numbers are optimistic, but venturing away from your desk to show CAD drawings at a client site shouldn't be a problem.

The Firefly also had the best display in the group, tying the larger ZBook in brightness and color coverage and just edging out the Dell in both areas.

Verdict: A Capable, But Outclassed, Mobile Workstation

HP's ZBook Firefly 14 G11 brings impeccable quality and enterprise features to the table. Its DreamColor screen is ideal for color-sensitive work, and we have no complaints about its practicality as a business PC in the office or on the road. However, the Dell Precision 5490 offers vastly superior graphics performance and matches this HP in most other areas, thereby keeping its Editors' Choice award among compact mobile workstations.